Four Kansas City Royals who should not be traded at deadline
The trade deadline is fast approaching and the Kansas City Royals need to hold onto these four players when it’s all said and done.
The 2020 season is a unique one, as only 60 games were initially scheduled to be played before an expanded postseason was set to take place this fall. For the Kansas City Royals, this ensured that they’d have a fighting chance at contending for the playoffs, even with a less than stellar team.
Prior to Friday night’s game, the Royals are 12-19 and currently sit seven and a half games back in the AL Central. Winning the division is a pipe dream at this point, as is hoping to get in via the second place spot in the division.
What isn’t out of the question, however, is punching their ticket via one of the two remaining Wild Card spots. It won’t be easy, but the Royals still have a chance to make it to the playoffs for the first time in five years.
In order to make that happen, and to ensure they have talent in 2021, the Royals need to hold onto these four players and not ship them elsewhere before the trade deadline.
4. Jorge Soler
The Royals traded for Jorge Soler prior to the 2017 season and sent Wade Davis to the Cubs in return. The Cubs made it to the NLCS that year, but didn’t make it another World Series and Davis went on to sign a three-year deal with the Rockies.
At that point, Soler wasn’t doing much for the Royals, but there also wasn’t really a place for him on the roster. As time went one, he battled injuries, but finally made it through an entire season in 2019 and set the franchise single season record in home runs with 48 dingers.
This season won’t see Soler come anywhere close to those numbers due to playing 102 less games, but he’s still shown a nice burst of power for the Royals. He’s hit seven home runs in 110 at bats and while he has struck out quite a bit, that was also the case last year.
Soler is under contract through the end of next season and while the Royals might let him walk in free agency, at least if they keep him another year, there’s a chance they could end up extending him.